Indian people Everyhwere

No I am not a self loathing Indian and I in now way want to convey as such in any part of this post. I have seen or heard about the existence of an Indian community from sparsely populated regions of the world to that of all industrialized countries. Why do we as a people migrate so much, I am trying to understand.

Well the British had a big hand in the forced migrations and by even creating opportunities for migration of Indians during the colonial era. It is because of this era that Indian exist in so many countries of the Africa, Europe and West Indies. It seems that where ever the British empire existed there was a considerable population of Indians there, this was mainly because of the labor and minds that the British needed. Even Gandhi was in South Africa for a long time before he moved back to India.

Another reason that Indian exist everywhere is their obsession with foreign countries. Those denied entry into the West tend to still attain that obsession of other countries by moving to less prominent ones all over the globe, for example Chile. I was very surprised to read an article in an Indian Newspaper that a 1000 strong Indian community existed in the Chile.

Another reason for the success of Indians in foreign countries is their adaptability and resilience. From a temperate country that is India, we have managed to live and thrive in countries like Canada, Russia and even the blistering hot Middle east. No its not desperation to make money that drives this adaptation but the idea that weather is but an obstacle.

Go Go Indians Go.

Ayn Rand: Cant't believe I agree with her

Ayn rand is being revisited lately by, especially due to the increase in popularity of the" tea partiers". While going through the unabridged version of Atlas shrugged (I though the book i was buying was the abridged version, don't regret it though) several aspects of her philosophy made a lot of sense.

Francisco's speech about money was an eye opener and belonging to the "Money is the root of all evil' club I found it hard to digest at first but upon more consideration it made perfect sense. Money is not the root of all evil, its the exploitation and dishonesty among men that is the root of all evil.

Religion, Ayn rand says and I agree, requires you to be a zombie. Give up your consciousness and put your faith in god. Obey and you have heaven while you lie in the grave, disobey and the lake of fire waits. Using this as gun the "mystics of spirit" have long subdued the consciousness of humans.

The purpose of life is Reason-Purpose and self esteem. There might be a few more purposes but these three are mandatory. No reason, then we might as well be put in a padded cell. No purpose, then we are a waste of resources. No self esteem, then we can't have a purpose and we cannot have reason in our purpose.

More to come.

I'm baaaack

After a very long hiatus, during which i cracked the gmat, applied for B-schools and met a whole lot of people and finished Das Kapital and Atlas Shrugged, I am back to the blog. Statcounter is amazing, it directs a 1000 visits to my page every month for $10. I am curious though if my blog one of those annoying pop-ups now.

Capitalism is evolution

I am not arguing the pros and cons of capitalism, only pointing out the parallels between evolution and capitalism.

1) Small genetic changes in an organism can cause a population explosion or extinction of its species. This might be kind of vague when applied to capitalism, but any small changes from a change in CEO or a bad or good decision can cause a company to either go out of business or stamp out the competition.

2) Adaptation or extinction. Companies like organism need to adapt to new environments quickly or face collapse.

3)Survival of the fittest: I don't have to explain much here. It is pretty obvious how this applies to both evolution. For capitalism in its purest form (.i.e no bailouts) a company that allows itself to be caught in on the wrong foot will go out of business or be bought up by a fitter company.

4) The meek will inherit the earth, this is not exactly a part of evolutionary theory but it has happened over and over again. The biggest example is the current dominance of mammal which happened as a result of the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Bye bye Fossil fuels?

Many products are now available online from companies like First Solar, Evergreen Solar and GoGreensolar that will reduce our carbon footprint. Cheap easy to install solar panels, wind turbines can be used to generate a percentage of our energy use and with the expected implementation of a smart grid (which I will talk about at another time) any excess energy can be sold to electric company. Not only will we reduce our dependence on environmentally costly fuel but also have the opportunity to reduce the dependence of others.

A case study: This was reported in the economist last year. Farmers on a small island of the coast of Denmark, were encouraged by the government to place wind turbines on their farms. I am not aware if any subsidies were provided, but the farming community invested in the several turbines over the last few years and have succesully generated enough power to be able to sell it to the electric company which then supplies it to the main land. Denmark now generates 15% of it power from wind,(17000 megawatts of electricity) which was made possible by encouraging schemes such as these.

I don't want to lecture but this is an opportunity for each one of us to make a difference. So approach your local community organization, city or town hall to implement applicable clean energy technology. If thats not possible you can buy panels or turbines for your home and reduce your footprint.

What tragedy of commons?

A bit dated this article might be, but it will be relevant until we overcome the tragedy that is staring us in the face. At the expense of sounding like a broken record, I will once again talk about global warming and the urgency of taking steps to combat this phenomenon.

Elinor Ostrom, a political scientist, won the Nobel Prize for Economics recently. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences recognized her "for her analysis of economic governance," saying her work had demonstrated how common property could be successfully managed by groups using it thus debunking the tragedy of commons. Each of us working in groups can compromise for the conservation and thereby the rejuvenation of resources.

Renewable energies are getting cheaper by the day. The problem so far has been that coal was extremely cheap to use compared to the energy obtained through Solar and Wind technologies. In Jan 2009, First Solar announced that they had beaten the industry milestone of $1 per watt of solar energy. Compared to the prices per watt of coal this is still expensive. While the renewable energy companies work on the innovation, we can lend a hand by driving demand. It has always been the case that demand leads to innovation. Kinda like necessity and invention.

Hard work

GIVING 103% AT WORK

We have all been to those meetings where someone wants over 100% Here's to achieving 103%. Here's a little
math that might prove helpful in the future!

What makes life 100%?

If:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

equals:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

then:
H A R D W O R K
8 1 18 4 23 15 18 11 = 98 % Only

K N O W L E D G E
11 14 15 23 12 5 4 7 5 = 96 % Only

But:
A T T I T U D E
1 20 20 9 20 21 4 5 = 100 %

However:
B U L L * * * T
2 21 12 12 19 8 9 20 = 103%